Editor, Catherine Osborn seems frustrated at the growth of administrative salaries and bonuses while faculty languish in pay freezes. I urge her to take heart, for I bring tidings of great joy. You see, the past several years have shown us all that the sole purpose of University vice presidents is to generate more vice presidents.
The following is a more honest rendition of President David Schmidly's Monday Morning Message. Good morning. I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend and is as excited as I am about the new semester. In these hard economic times, all of us will have to tighten our belts, but remember, we are a family at UNM, and when sacrifices need to be made, we in the administration will take the lead in making them.
Editor, I would like to comment on the article in Thursday's Daily Lobo concerning the Kevin Boyar case. The reason the UNM Police Department is disappointed with the rulings of various motions in this case is because it makes the department look bad. UNMPD screwed up, and now it wants to justify its sloppy actions in the name of student safety.
Editor, I am writing in response to Randy Boeglin, UNM dean of students, stating, "If you have weapons in your trunk on the parking lot on the campus, that would be legitimate. If those weapons left your trunk and came out of your car, it would violate our policy.
Editor, I was outraged and offended to read that Brandon Curtis referred to the Holy Bible as a mere book of mythology in an attempt to single-handedly dismiss the arguments against abortion and gay marriage. It reflects a total disrespect toward anyone who disagrees with his ill-conceived notions about abortion or marriage.
Editor, With the new semester comes a new climate in our nation. Regardless of your political affiliation, the promise of change is great, and the responsibilities of citizenship are being renewed. While we move forward as a nation, it is imperative that we also remember the men and women who make the sacrifices necessary to promote and defend our freedoms that allow for a peaceful transition of power.
Editor, It is time UNM students stand up, unite and demand that the University do better. We pay good money for second-rate services, and it is time that we say, "No more." UNM could do better in many areas, but the one we need to address today is the Student Financial Aid Office.
Editor, Thanks to the Jan. 14 edition of the Albuquerque Journal regarding David Harris' "bonus" and deferred compensation payments, now it's all very clear where the money is going that has been "harvested" from the departments. Faculty and staff don't get bonuses, and we don't get car allowances.
Editor, I and everyone in America who has any appreciation or understanding of what this great country was founded on - freedom - should be very concerned to see the U.S. government continuing to talk about yet another bailout of private industry. Government has no business having any type of ownership stake of any industry or corporation, and going farther down this road is asking for an economic disaster beyond belief.
Editor, It is the beginning of another semester, and, as I understand it, this is the time for Greek rush. There are many social fraternities and sororities that are highly respected on campus, but one different kind of fraternity is left unnoticed. This is not your typical fraternity.
Editor, I am so sick of letters by the dogmatic right on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. Do these people actually desire a return to back-alley abortions, which would be inevitable should they get their wish and criminalize abortion? Or do they want an all-powerful state that determines matters between private individuals, such as marriage? If so, I urge people like Phillip Howell, Slowhike and The Ghost (persons who post drivel on the Daily Lobo message boards) to move to a state more in line with their type of thinking, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia or the parts of Afghanistan that have reverted to Taliban control.
Editor, Enough is enough. As an eight-year employee of UNM, I'm sick and tired of the people at the top skimming off the money and then once in a great while flipping us a scrap or two off the end of their middle finger. President David Schmidly is the worst of the lot.
Editor, I originally found the Barack Obama concert to be inconsequential. I believed bringing up memories and feelings of old grudges and betrayals could only bring more hate and angst into the world. People there spoke with phrases like "minority" and "long-awaited.
Editor, Whom does President David Schmidly think he works for? If pressed, he would probably say he works for the good of all UNM. His actions, however, say otherwise. They include the creation of more than a dozen vice-presidential posts, most with six-figure salaries; a multi-million dollar renovation of a sports facility in the midst of a massive recession; a hiring and pay-raise freeze on all faculty, except, of course, the $750,000 football coach; a high-paid executive position for one (unqualified) Brian Schmidly; relocation of the Student Services Center to a pointlessly inconvenient off-campus location; and a raise in tuition rates to pay for it all.
For a couple of weeks, friends and other people whom I unfortunately know have joked around with me, asking how much I was looking forward to the inauguration. I am not going to lie - I have kind of been in a funk. All of the hype about it has gotten to me, and the multiple Facebook invites to speech-watching events and prayer services have not helped either.
Editor, This letter is directed at the stumblebums who seem to think they are better qualified to run the University than President David Schmidly - someone who has actual experience as a university president. You think that athletics, a self-sustaining economic endeavor that allows student athletes to attend universities, some of whom might not have such opportunities were it not for the athletics scholarships that support their studies, is somehow taking precious resources away from academic programs? You think that bond funds voted for in elections for athletic buildings can just be diverted to your programs because some people just really want it that way? You think Schmidly has done a poor job because the state faces a budget shortfall that forced UNM to go on a hiring freeze? You think eliminating an indeterminable number of vice president positions could make up those millions of dollars? Weren't you the same group of people clamoring for greater diversity and equality so then UNM created a position to demonstrate the University's commitment to meeting those aims? And didn't you also want better student support so UNM might raise its anemic graduation rate to within spitting distance of its peers? Didn't you want the vice president for enrollment management because the basis for UNM's funding is driven by student credit hours? And you really thought that these things would magically get accomplished by qualified people with relevant experience without paying market rates? Do you think that you are better qualified, better informed and more capable of leading UNM? You think you have all of the solutions to all of the issues facing UNM, and you think Schmidly is either choosing to ignore good solutions or is incapable of reaching the same solutions? Do you think Loyola Chastain serves the best interests of UNM's staff when all she has demonstrated is her ability to frustrate any real dialogue about the challenges the University faces? You really don't think you deserve a better representative, one who's willing to be frank with staff members about the issues facing the University? Maybe you should collectively apply Ockham's razor to the current problems the University faces and acknowledge that there are no magic bullets to fix these problems.
Solutions by The State News
